Well into his campaign for the 3rd District seat of the Kern County Board of Supervisors, former California Highway Patrol Assistant Chief Brian Smith formally announced to the news media Thursday he is running for the position.

Gov. Gavin Newsom called for a mix of investments Monday to support California's — and specifically Kern's — transition from petroleum to renewable power, including $83 million toward construction of an energy innovation center at Cal State Bakersfield and $215 million to train displaced oil…

It came as little surprise at this point, but on Monday, Kern County Supervisor Mike Maggard made it official by announcing he will not seek reelection to a fifth term in June.

As the clock ticks for federal employees and contractors to get fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Jan. 4 or face weekly testing, Rep. David Valadao sent a letter Monday calling on President Joe Biden to set aside the mandates for economic reasons.

Reps. Kevin McCarthy and David Valadao joined eight other Republican members of Congress this week in calling on President Joe Biden and Gov. Gavin Newsom to declare emergencies that would allow the maximum amount of water from this week's storms to be diverted south to Central Valley farmers.

Rep. David Valadao's vote Wednesday in favor of creating a commission to examine the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol has again put the Hanford Republican at odds with his Central Valley neighbor and sometime ally in Congress, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, whose vote against the measure helped set the…

First lady Jill Biden honored the legacy of civil rights icon Cesar Chavez during a visit Wednesday to the original home of the United Farm Workers, declaring she and her husband remain inspired by the late union leader's service and sacrifices on behalf of people "who were mostly unseen."

First lady Jill Biden plans to visit Delano Wednesday as part of a Democratic Party tradition local Hispanic leaders say pays appropriate tribute to the Central Valley's disenfranchised poor while underscoring the continuing relevance of labor unions in national politics.

An attempt to censure Rep. David Valadao, R-Hanford, over his vote to impeach former U.S. President Donald Trump will face an uphill battle during the California Republican Party convention this weekend.

Speakers at an online public hearing Thursday night staked out opposing positions on Kern County’s proposal to reestablish an over-the-counter system of oil permitting.

More than 7,000 people signed a petition submitted Wednesday asking Kern's Board of Supervisors and Gov. Gavin Newsom to halt the county's push to reinstate streamlined oil permitting.

Local Republicans on social media pummeled Rep. David Valadao, R-Hanford, after he voted Wednesday to impeach President Donald Trump, a move his ally and congressional neighbor Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, forgave him for and observers said may reflect the political realities of his d…

Bakersfield Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy said he implored President Donald Trump during an intense, hourlong phone conversation Monday morning to accept his electoral defeat and move forward with a peaceful transition of power.

Reports have surfaced Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, privately urged President Donald Trump Monday to recognize President-elect Joe Biden won the election and accept that the rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol last week were Trump supporters, not members of the leftist group Antifa.

A former Democratic candidate for California's 34th Assembly District seat, Julie Solis, was arrested Monday after refusing to leave Rep. Kevin McCarthy's Bakersfield office — an episode she live-streamed on social media for 45 minutes while calling for the congressman's resignation.

Bakersfield resident Daniel Shaffer can’t remember exactly when he made the decision to fly out to Washington, D.C. But he and other supporters of President Donald Trump had marked their calendars for Jan. 6 as a day to convene in the nation’s capital.

While chaos and riots overtook the nation's Capitol building, a small, quiet and very religious prayer rally was held at noon Wednesday in front of the Liberty Bell on Truxtun Avenue.

Just days ahead of his swearing-in ceremony, incoming 21st Congressional District Rep. David Valadao said he has tested positive for COVID-19.

News reports out of Washington raised a legitimate question this week about Rep. Kevin McCarthy: How is it the Bakersfield Republican missed one of the most politically delicate situations of the last four years — Monday's vote on whether to override President Donald Trump's veto of the Nati…

Political mobilization efforts in Kern County, combined with pressing national concerns that spurred people to vote, have increased engagement in local elections to the benefit of Democrats and Republicans alike, even as it may have brought them mixed results in individual races.

The roughly $900 billion pandemic relief bill passed by Congress Monday night would set aside at least $70 million for projects in Kern County, with most of the local money earmarked for construction work at Edwards Air Force Base.

Outgoing Rep. T.J. Cox has declared an intention to run again for California's 21st Congressional District seat, though it was unclear Friday how committed he remains because his candidacy paperwork was filed weeks before he ultimately conceded losing the Nov. 3 General Election.

The Democratic challenger to Rep. Kevin McCarthy in the 2020 race for California's 23rd Congressional District seat, Kim Mangone, recently underwent cancer surgery and is now recovering in "great spirits," a member of her campaign staff reported Tuesday.

Republican Congressman-elect David Valadao hasn't taken office yet and already a Democrat has stepped forward to challenge him in 2022 with a strike-first strategy that is raising eyebrows in local political circles.

Democratic Rep. TJ Cox conceded the close race for the 21st Congressional District to former Rep. David Valadao in a phone call Friday, Cox's campaign said.

Republican David Valadao declared victory Wednesday night in his bid to take back the seat he lost two years ago, but current Democratic Rep. T.J. Cox has not conceded.

The number of outstanding ballots left to count in Kern County stood at less than 25,000 on Wednesday, according to the most recent information on the California Secretary of State's website. 

A Kern County native who served in the Obama administration has been appointed to become President-elect Joe Biden's director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs.

Kern County Elections has plowed through another big batch of outstanding ballots and has fewer than 50,000 ballots remaining to be counted as of Friday, according to updates provided on the California Secretary of State's website.

The Kings County Elections Department announced it has temporarily closed because of a COVID-19 exposure.

Kern County residents voted in droves in this week's election,but so many of the ballots cast were uncounted heading into the weekend that the outcome of many local races remained uncertain.

Kern County is still waiting for as many as 100,000 ballots to be counted, and we may reportedly not get updates until next week. This causes some uncertainty in down-ballot races where there may be razor-thin differences between candidates and the vote counts themselves might be low. The to…

Kern's most powerful politician appears to have won an eighth term in Congress after balloting Tuesday but it remained too close to call Wednesday whether his local Republican ally will return with him to Washington, D.C.

Republican challenger David Valadao maintained a slim 2 percentage point lead Wednesday morning over Democratic incumbent T.J. Cox in California's 21st Congressional District election.

Republican challenger David Valadao took a narrow lead Tuesday over Democratic incumbent T.J. Cox in partial results of California's 21st Congressional District election, while in the 23rd District, challenger Kim Mangone was trailing incumbent Rep. Kevin McCarthy.

Election Day has arrived, though that doesn't mean we will necessarily know the outcome of Tuesday's long-awaited vote right away. Here is some information about how to vote and what to expect once polling places close at 8 p.m. in California.

This election isn't like any other: all registered voters in California have already been mailed a ballot. But that doesn't mean that poll sites don't serve a valuable role on Election Day.Voters who have their mail ballot can surrender it at any one of the 150 poll sites set up around the c…

Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, is fast approaching.

Kim Mangone, the Democratic challenger taking on Kevin McCarthy in the 23rd Congressional District race, has made more headway against her seven-term opponent than anyone before her. 

The Republican and Democratic candidates for California's 23rd Congressional District found a lot to disagree on during a televised debate on a wide range of national topics Wednesday night.

The bitter fight for California's 21st Congressional District seat only got more so Tuesday as the two candidates — incumbent Rep. T.J. Cox, D-Selma, and challenger David Valadao, R-Hanford — clashed over questions of honesty and how closely their opponent obeys his own party's leadership.

It was probably the most talked about campaign ad in one of the nation's hottest political contests, the tight race for California's 21st Congressional District seat.

Only at its most basic level is California's 23rd Congressional District race about the choice between incumbent Kevin McCarthy, one of the nation's most powerful Republicans, and his Democratic challenger, U.S. Air Force veteran Kim Mangone.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy, speaking on the fourth and final night of the Republican National Convention, invoked the American dream and touched on some of the greatest achievements in U.S. history Thursday in a brief but wide-ranging exhortation for Americans to re-elect President Donald Trump.